A critical analysis of the child welfare system and attempts to reclaim clinical practice /

• Main Author: St. Hillaire, Kim
• Other Authors: Davies, Linda (advisor)
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: McGill University 2002
• Subjects: Child welfare > Canada; Child welfare workers > Canada; Burn out (Psychology)
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=78191

Stress and burnout have received a great deal of attention in the child welfare field. This has been due to such issues as the high workload, the complexity of the cases, working with resistant and at times violent clients and the negative work environment of the youth protection agency. These factors have a detrimental effect on the worker's personal and professional resources and undermine the healthy functioning of the agency, all of which ultimately affects best practice with clients. One way in which child welfare organizations could make an effort towards reclaiming clinical practice is to engage in training for its workforce. Training can benefit practitioners by improving their skills and knowledge and this can lead to greater job satisfaction. Agency functioning is improved by having a trained workforce as well as social workers who are knowledgeable regarding agency policies, values and models of intervention. Children and families ultimately benefit by working with practitioners who are equipped with the appropriate skills. These benefits for workers, clients and the agency cannot materialize unless barriers are removed and changes within the agency take place in order to support the effective transfer of knowledge and training.